Page 10 - The Clare Connection_Fall 2020 Flipbook

A New Approach to Fitness at The Clare

W ellness and fitness are crucial television, and he especially appre-

components of the overall resident ciates the convenience. He keeps up
lifestyle at The Clare. So, when in-per- with a personal trainer twice a week,
son group classes were canceled and along with physical therapy, but he
the Fitness Center and Pool closed in took up the classes amid the pan-
early March in response to COVID-19, demic when the Fitness Center closed
keeping residents active was of para- initially.
mount concern.
“If I don’t exercise, I slow down,” Frank
With each restriction implemented, says. “The exercise becomes important
The Clare’s fitness team never wavered. for that reason.”
They stepped up to the challenge, Laurel Blau uses a machine during
creating innovative ways to keep Given that Emily would usually inter- a personal training session.
residents engaged and moving. act with and check in on residents as
they took her classes or went to the
“Once COVID-19 hit, we started to Fitness Center, another important “We made bi-weekly phone calls to
figure out what we can do and change step was figuring out how to engage every single resident to ask them how
to make sure our residents did not miss with residents. She delivered handouts they were doing and if they needed
a beat,” Fitness Manager Emily Buxton with exercises and promoted games anything, even if it wasn’t fitness-
says. “We took maybe three days off, like Healthy Habits BINGO, where she related,” Emily says. “Many of the
and then we were right back into a would call out a square at the end of residents were lonely, and there were
routine.” times where we have had to be that
each class to gauge how active resi-
Early COVID Challenges dents were. voice of encouragement, saying, ‘We
will get through this. Just hang tight.
The first step was reinstating a regular Most important, though, was simply Whatever you need, we are here to
fitness schedule. Thanks to The connecting. support you.’”
Clare’s in-house channel, Emily began
teaching live in front of a camera, and
residents tuned in daily to follow along
from the comfort and safety of their
apartments. They could check out
sanitized equipment to use for their
workouts, as well.
“We wanted to make sure that we’re
offering the same caliber of classes
that we were before,” Emily says.
Since the onset of the pandemic,
residents Jack Jennings and Steve
Molinari have tuned in to the fitness
classes from the comfort of their
apartment. They appreciate the variety
of exercises and stretches, as well as
the set schedule they can follow.
“We look forward to it as the start of
our day,” Steve says. “We call it ‘Emily
at 9,’ and it really grounds us.”
Resident Frank Caravette also regu- Frank Caravette stretches during a personal training session
larly attends the fitness classes via his